Jonathan's Space Report
No. 627 2010 May 11 Somerville, MA
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shuttle and Station
--------------------
Progress M-03M undocked from the Pirs module at 1629 UTC on Apr 22.
According to Roscosmos, the vehicle then carried out
the 'Radar-Progress' experiment using the propulsion system
to locally perturb the ionosphere. At 1805 UTC on Apr 27
it fired its engines to reenter over the Pacific.
Progress M-05M was launched on Apr 28 at 1715 UTC and docked with
Pirs at 1830 UTC on May 1.
Progress M-04M undocked from the Zvezda module at 1016 UTC on May 10.
It will remain in orbit for over a month, carrying out experiments.
Soyuz TMA-17 will be moved from Zarya to Zvezda on May 12.
Atlantis is on pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center preparing for launch
on mission STS-132, ISS flight ULF4 (Utilization and Logistics
Flight 4), which will deliver the Rassvet module to the
space station. STS-132 uses external tank ET-136 with the RSRM-111 booster
pair.
The 521GK Rassvet ('Daybreak') module, or Maliy Issledovatel'skiy
Modul-1 (Small Research Module 1) is built by Energiya.
Its structure is somewhat similar to the Pirs and Poisk modules
and to a stretched Soyuz orbital module, and was originally intended for
the now cancelled NPP (Science Power Platform) module. It is 6.6m long
and 2.4m in diameter. Rassvet will be attached to the nadir port of
Zarya, and has a docking port of its own; this provides a parking place
for a Soyuz further from the axis of the station, avoiding crowding by
the nearby Tranquility module. The module also provides extra storage
space.
Launched attached to Rassvet are components that will later be attached
to the forthcoming Nauka module (multipurpose laboratory module) - a radiator,
an airlock section, and an elbow joint and work platform for the
European robot arm. Nauka will probably be launched in 2012.
Also in Atlantis' payload bay is the ICC-VLD (Integrated Cargo Carrier -
Vertical Light Deployable), on its second flight. This truss carries
spares for the Station: a new space-to-ground antenna (SGANT), a new work
platform for the Dextre robot manipulator (EOTP), and six more replacement
batteries for the P6 truss section. There are a dozen 170-kg battery
ORUs (orbital replacement units) on each of the P6, S6, P4, and S4 truss
segments. P6 has been up since 2000 and the batteries are getting old;
its first six batteries were swapped out on the first ICC-VLD flight in
2009 (STS-127).
The Atlantis crew will also deliver a spare spacesuit, EMU 3011, to join
three US EMU spacesuits and three Russian Orlan-MK suits already on the
station. Astronauts Garrett Reisman (in EMU 3018), Steve Bowen (in EMU
3004), and Michael Good (in EMU 3009) will make three spacewalks to
replace the batteries and install the SGANT and EOTP. Ken Ham and Tony
Antonelli will fly Atlantis to the Station while Piers Sellers will
be driving the Station robot arm.
STS-131 cargo manifest
----------------------
Name Bay location Mass (kg,guess)
Orbiter Docking System 1-2 1800
with EMU 3004, 3018, 3011 suits 390?
APC/SPDU 3 port 17?
APC/PDGF grapple fixture 5 port 71?
ICC-VLD carrier 6-7 1913
+ 6 Battery ORUs 1020
+ SGANT antenna 293
+ EOTP platform 191
ROEU 755 umbilical 10 port 90
Rassvet module 9-13 6295
+ MLM Airlock 900
+ MLM Radiator 570
+ ERA-EJ elbow joint 150
+ ERA-PWP platform 100
RMS Sill 410
OBSS Sill 382
-----------------------------------------------------
Total 14592 kg
X-37B
-----
The US Air Force launched its X-37B orbital spaceplane on Apr 22. The
Atlas V 501 rocket put the X-37B in low Earth orbit about 17 min after
launch. The orbit is probably somewhere in the 430-450 km range with an
inclination between 28 and 40 deg, possibly around 33 deg. The Centaur
AV-012 rocket separated at 0010 UTC on Apr 23 and then made a second
burn at 0035 UTC to deplete its remaining fuel, sending it into solar
orbit. The Atlas V is overpowered for missions like these, so the
Centaur ends up with lots of extra propellant. An escape-orbit disposal
was also used for the final stage from the AV-017 DMSP launch last year.
AV-012 appears to be the first United States space vehicle in solar
orbit whose orbit around the Sun is officially secret.
The X-37B is a 5000 kg winged vehicle 8.8m long 2.9m high and 4.5m in
wingspan. Originally designed under a NASA program, it is now a
DARPA/Air Force project developed by the Air Force Research Lab at
Kirtland AFB and built by Boeing Phantom Works at Huntington Beach,
California.
This is flight 1 of vehicle OTV-1, and has been given the cover name USA
212 by USStratCom. Assuming a successful mission, it will be followed in
2010-2011 by flight 1 of OTV-2, and then be reflown itself as flight 2
of OTV-1. A significant aspect of the program is testing vehicle ground
processing which is designed to be quicker and simpler than for the
Shuttle.
HTV-2a
-------
The US Air Force also launched an endoatmospheric hypersonic test on Apr
22, but contact with the vehicle was lost 9 minutes into the flight.
The HTV-2a glider was launched on a three stage Minotaur IV Lite
from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 8 toward Kwajalein Atoll in the
Pacific. The Minotaur IV Lite uses the same three solid rocket motors as the MX
Peacekeeper missile but with different electronics and support systems.
The publicly available information on the flight is sketchy but
indicates that HTV-2a was boosted into space on a ballistic flight and
only reached its operational altitude after a suborbital phase with a
range of 1900 km out of the total flight range of 7600 km. A plausible
reconstruction constrained by the quoted ranges and speeds is an
injection orbit of around -3780 x 100 km x 145 deg with separation from
the third stage at 2303 UTC, apogee at 2305 UTC over 133W 33N, reentry
through 80 km at 2307 UTC around 143W 32N, followed by hypersonic glide
to an intended impact in the ocean north of the atoll around 168E 10.5N
at 2330 UTC. Loss of contact with the HTV-2a was at 2309 UTC, early in
its atmospheric phase.
SES-1
-----
Khrunichev/International Launch Services has launched the SES-1
satellite for SES World Skies. SES-1 is an Orbital Star-2.4 satellite
replacing AMC-2 and AMC-4 with Ku and C band services over the US at 101
deg W. SES World Skies combines the old New Skies Satellites (based in
the Hague) and Americom (based in Princeton). The Proton put the upper
stage in a -483 x 195 km x 51.5 deg trajectory. While the Proton third
stage fell back towards reentry over the Pacific at around 1144 UTC, the
Briz-M ignited to reach 191 x 195 km, 297 x 4999 km x 48, 496 x 33923 km
x 46 and 33855 x 33881 km x 0 deg. The DTB additional propellant tank
was tracked in a 518 x 33779 km x 46.2 deg orbit.
CryoSat-2
---------
After the usual confusion, 2010-013B/36509 is now cataloged as the
CryoSat Dnepr rocket stage in a 716 x 1119 km orbit, and 2010-013C/36510
is the plume shield in a 684 x 720 km orbit. The Space-Track data are
correct for Apr 8-9 and Apr 15 onwards, but swapped for the Apr 9-14
period.
Kosmos-2463
------------
Russia launched a Parus-class navigation satellite on Apr 27,
giving it the cover name Kosmos-2463. Parus satellites are built
by the Omsk-based company Polyot with design work by ISS Reshetnev.
They use a Doppler navigation signal similar to the now-retired
US Navy Transit system.
Galaxy 15
---------
Intelsat's Galaxy 15 satellite failed on April 5 and began drifting off
station, with its communications payload still transmitting. The
satellite is an Orbital Star 2, launched in Oct 2005 as part of
Panamsat's Galaxy fleet; Panamsat was sold to Intelsat in Jul 2006. By
Apr 30 Galaxy 15 had drifted from 133.0W to 132.6W, and between Apr 7
and Apr 19 Galaxy 12 was moved to 133.1W to replace it. Since their
introduction in 1997 there have been 21 Star-class satellites launched
including Galaxy 15; BSat-2b was stranded in transfer orbit by a launch
vehicle failure but the other 19 are all still operating.
Suborbital flights
-------------------
A Black Brant IX rocket carried a University of Colorado experiment on
a suborbital flight May 3, to calibrate the Solar Dynamics Observatory's
EVE experiment.
The Orion launch abort motor had a successful low-altitude atmospheric
test on May 6 at 1300 UTC. The motor lifted a prototype Orion capsule to
an apogee of 1.2 km; the capsule then deployed its parachutes and landed
in the desert 2 km away.
Table of Recent (orbital) Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Apr 2 0404 Soyuz TMA-18 Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 11A
Apr 5 1021 Discovery (STS-131) Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 12A
Leonardo Module 12
Apr 8 1357 CryoSat-2 Dnepr Baykonur LC109/95 Science 13A
Apr 15 1057 GSAT-4 GSLV Mk II Sriharikota Comms F01
Apr 16 1500 Kosmos-2462 Soyuz-U Plesetsk Imaging 14A
Apr 22 2352 X-37B OTV-1 Atlas V 501 Canaveral SLC41 Spaceplane 15A
Apr 24 1119 SES-1 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur Comms 16A
Apr 27 0105 Kosmos-2463 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132/1 Nav 17A
Apr 28 1715 Progress M-05M Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 18A
Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km
Apr 23 2300 HTV-2a Minotaur IVL Vandenberg SLC8 Hypersonic 100?
May 3 1832 NASA 36.258UE Black Brant IX White Sands Solar EUV 280?
May 4 1241 SpaceLoft SL-4 SpaceLoft XL SW Regional Micrograv 113?
.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : jcm@host.planet4589.org |
| USA | jcm@cfa.harvard.edu |
| |
| JSR: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html |
| Back issues: http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back |
| Subscribe/unsub: mail majordomo@host.planet4589.org, (un)subscribe jsr |
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------'